It’s rare that politicians actually rise above the usual pandering and backbiting of a campaign, but Barack Obama seems to have beyond all expectation, done so. His recent speech on racism is being called historic, compared with the great speeches of Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson. Unexpectedly Americans, at least the ones on the internet, seem to agree

On Saturday evening I was spending time with family, and my grandparents who had driven all the way from Long Island to cold ass Syracuse. Needless to say, my first priority was not watching the MTV-MySpace “Closing Arguments” hoopdeedoo political review that was happening. But it was of some interest, and we did have it on in the background. Ron Paul appeared on screen to give his long-winded answers to some fairly simple questions, and it sort of enthralled a handful of us.